Positioning may be the key to netminding, but Dan Vladar insists he doesn’t want to know where he stands when it comes to the Calgary Flames record book.
“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” said the Flames goaltender when asked about the sizable point streak he extended Friday.
“It doesn’t make much sense to know, and it isn’t anything I should be paying attention to.”
Well, don’t tell Vladar, but the 25-year-old Czech revelation tied a franchise record with his team’s 5-2 win in Seattle over the Kraken on Friday, extending his point streak to 13 games.
That’s a baker’s dozen of games in which he hasn’t lost in regulation, backstopping his club to a 10-0-3 record and tying Brian Elliott (2016-17) and Mike Vernon (1988-89), who both had strings of 12-0-1.
It has made him the talk of the town, making him the fan’s favourite to get the starting nod ahead of Jacob Markstrom with more regularity.
There’s endless love for Vladar, who has been one of the brightest lights in a season of shocking inconsistency for the Flames.
“I don’t know if I feel it (the love), but every time someone recognizes me they’re always treating me well and being nice to me, so obviously that means a lot,” said Vladar.
“I’m trying to pay them back with my performance.”
Although steady all night in a 29-save performance, he saved the bulk of his heroics for the second half of the game when the Flames were tasked with killing off four straight penalties while clinging to a 3-1 lead.
Vladar got a bit of a break midway through the third period when Jared McCann knocked Vladar over while driving to the net and then had his left leg push into the goalie’s left pad, causing enough interference to make good on Darryl Sutter’s coach’s challenge to overturn an apparent Alex Wennberg power-play goal.
Seattle’s Eeli Tolvanen scored a few minutes later to make it a one-goal game before Noah Hanifin buried the insurance marker with eight minutes left.
Flames defenceman Nikita Zadorov had scored late in the first period on a night in which the blue-liners bounced back from an abysmal effort one night earlier when the absence of injured leader Chris Tanev sent the team into disarray.
The insertion of Dennis Gilbert for Connor Mackey seemed to give the third pairing with Michael Stone a little more stability.
Led by Zadorov, the top four defenders were far more structured against a surging Seattle club the Flames now sit just four points behind.
Jakob Pelletier’s ascent from the fourth line to the second on Thursday saw him stick with Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri at Climate Pledge Arena, where he continued to be an effective addition, generating several good scoring chances.
The win sends the Flames into their nine-day break feeling a whole lot better than they did on the way to Seattle, jumping into the final wild-card spot.
LINDHOLM A HIGH ROLLER
Earlier in the week, Elias Lindholm drew quite a crowd at the Flames’ Celebrity Poker tourney when he had a royal flush.
Odds of snagging the best hand a poker player can get: 694,739 to 1.
The Flames’ top centre pieced together even more impressive numbers in Seattle with a three-point effort that included a goal and two assists in the first period alone.
It brought him a few steps closer to joining an exclusive group only two players from the 2013 draft belong to — the 200-goal/300-assist club.
Lindholm, the fifth pick in 2013, now needs just four goals and two assists to join Nathan MacKinnon (drafted first overall) and Aleksander Barkov (second overall) at 200/300.
Lindholm has done well to find chemistry on the top line with Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dube of late, accruing 29 points in his last 27 games to surge ahead as the team’s leading scorer.
Toffoli’s 18th goal brought him within one of Kadri’s team-leading 19, while Blake Coleman’s empty netter saw him finish with three points.
Next up for the Flames is a date at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers Feb. 6 to kick off a four-game road trip out east that also includes stops in Detroit, Buffalo and Ottawa.
